Lessons learned from statistical comparison of flood impact factors among southern and eastern Asian countries

Abstract

This study analyses southern and eastern Asian country-specific flood disaster-related data mainly categorized into hydrological, socio-economic and flood disaster impact. The highly riverine flood-prone countries namely Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, Cambodia, China, Lao PDR, Vietnam, Thailand, Bangladesh and Nepal are considered for comparative study. The results suggest that the economic growth is prevailing in each country in a relative term. The level of disaster preparedness has also been noticeably improved by the respective governments, but the capacity of communities to cope with such extreme events is weakening because of lack of social capacity and increased severity of floods. The problem is further exacerbated due to the weakness in the adopted disaster preparedness system, which is outmoded and not effective to address the prevailing dynamic nature of the problem. This leads to the fact that the annual minimum number of flood related deaths remains always above 2000 for the last several years in the selected countries. The evidences reveal that there are key factors, which directly or indirectly, are responsible for the obstacles, and the variation of these factors in both spatial and temporal scales need to be analysed to understand the present state of flood risk in each country. The influence of each selected factor to the state of flood risk is compared among selected countries to recognize and prioritize the key responsible factors. The finding from this integrated study is helpful in identifying the critical sectors that should be addressed first to mitigate the potential damage from the floods in the country and the region.